Open Thread: Your best tip on doing presentations

As I mentioned yesterday, I'll be leading a discussion on Tinderbox and "the trusted system" tomorrow. Probably running a few Keynote slides, but mostly just casually chatting with a small group of enthusiastic Tinderbox fans.

I'm not a seasoned public speaker by anyone's estimation, so I've made my share of rookie mistakes in the past (hint: avoid doing a rambling, overlong talk without slides at ETech; people get confused, hungry, and eventually want to defenestrate you).

So, as I prep myself for tomorrow, I turn to you guys:

What's your best presentation tip? What's the "never break it" rule for PowerPoint/Keynote decks? What's your favorite site, article, or link on great presentations? How do I get that Lessig-, Jobs-, or Veen-like fu that makes audiences so giddy? (Self-links are okay within reason here)

I'll be over here imagining people in their underwear, but I'd love to hear your best advice on this stuff.

Update 2005-11-19 21:37:26

I've posted the slides from my talk today along with links to some of the posts and cool applications I mentioned.

Summary: went well! Very enthusiastic group -- great questions and conversations. And no one threw rotten vegetables. Elinliked it, and that's good enough for me. :-)

Use the mantra (allegedly) drilled into officer trainees at the Sandhurst Officer Training School, here in the UK.

Prior Preparation and Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance.

Above all, try to relax. I know it's easier said than done, but being relaxed makes a positive difference to the pace and tone of your delivery. Someone senior I worked for once told me that he imagined what life woulf be like after he completed the presentation, before starting it. When he realised that the world hadn't fallen in, no one was laughing at him, he wasn't a fool etc. he said he had the right perspective on the importance of the presentation he was about to make. He said that this relaxed him.

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